In Paris, metro tickets are now obsolete. For Vivatech 2019 held in Paris Expo Porte de Versailles, Ile-de-France region president Valérie Pécresse has dropped major news about mobility in the region: cardboard metro tickets and Navigo pass will be dematerialized.
Indeed, tickets as we currently know them are living their last days since they are said to progressively disappear starting this summer 2020. To replace it, the former Minister has unveiled a new ticket, the Navigo Easy. A contactless and rechargeable card devoted to occasional users and tourists. In concrete words, after paying €2 for the card, you can credit it with one or more tickets. Like the Oyster Card in London, for instance.
So, for a few months now, a handful of lucky people are testing a new format: the T+ ticket and the famous Navigo pass on smartphone. It’s the other big news announced by Valérie Pécresse for Vivatech: starting this September 2019, all the users of the latest Samsung generation will be provided this experience.
5 million smartphones are currently eligible in France. So far, no precise date has been announced yet for the official launch of the Navigo Lab, the application allowing this dematerialization. Metro ticket counters stormed on the first day of every month will finally be unblocked.
